الإسلام والغرب: نحو عالم أفضل

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Beyond Dialogue: Possible Areas of Cooperation

We have to use soft power in order to increase understanding, trust and knowledge. If we want to overcome the persistent and increasing mutual threat perception and the credibility gap we have to work very hard not only to foster active relations with the Muslim world, but specifically to look for a wide ranging cooperation in cultural dialogue, societal dialogue, Higher Education and social fields engaging civil society. Germany was the first European country which had established a task force for dialogue and cultural cooperation with the Muslim world. I had the privilege to be the first German Commissioner for this Dialogue. After September 11 we wanted to prevent a growing clash and we were looking for answers as to why there was so much hatred and violence against the West. The analysis was not too difficult: the perceived victimisation of the Muslim World, double standards in politics, the arrogance of a super power have created a dangerous mixture of frustrations and anger. The threat of globalisation, the feeling of not achieving, the deterioration of the standing of the Muslim World, the failure of educational and social systems, lack of freedom and democracy: many factors are contributing to this general malaise in the Muslim World. Catchwords as “Conflict Prevention” are rightly connected to Dialogue. We have, however, to reach out further: we have to join hands to actively overcome this negative situation. During the last four years Germany has had some successful projects and experiences in cooperation which I would like to share with you. We have enlisted our traditional Executive Agents for Public Diplomacy such as the Goethe-Institute, the Institute for Foreign Relations, the GTZ – a classical development agency – and the German Academic Exchange Service and devised strategies with them on how to refocus and concentrate our efforts in order to make a direct contribution to development and better understanding in the societies of the Middle East and the larger Muslim

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